CATFISH GENUS NOTURUS RAFINESQUE 203 



caudal rays. Caudal fin yellowish, lightly pigmented, but with broad 

 crescentic bands near margin; adipose fin yellowish, with some scat- 

 tered chromatophores outside of the saddle; anal fin mottled near 

 base (a dark brown spot at middle of anal base and on peduncle 

 in one specimen), with scattered melanophores distally on the fin 

 rays; pectoral fins with light tips and inner margins, otherwise mod- 

 eratety well pigmented; pectoral spine pigmented; pelvic rays pig- 

 mented only about base; dorsal fin well pigmented about base of fin 

 rays, its spine pigmented approximately to tip, and one or two narrow 

 brownish bands extend across the middle of the fin; distal one-fourth 

 of dorsal rays and the tip of the spine yellowish, with no black pig- 

 ment. Top of head dark; a light spot back of eye; cheek mottled; a 

 dark brown bar crosses posterior end of head, extending onto the 

 operculum and branchiostegal membrane; another extends diagonally 

 backward from the eye onto the operculum; forward, it passes just 

 under the e^'e and nares onto the snout; upper barbels brown; an- 

 terior nares pale; maxillary barbels and upper lip weakly pigmented; 

 lower barbels, especially the outer ones, somewhat pigmented; under- 

 surface of head unpigmented; abdomen with a bridge of dark pigment 

 in front of pelvics and a few scattered melanophores, otherwise 

 yellowish. 



Type (pi. 20, fig. 1).— The holotype (USNM 163801) is a female, 

 65.2 mm. in standard length or 79 mm. in total length. It has 4+11 = 15 

 anal rays, 22+7 + 10+15 = 54 caudal rays, 34 vertebrae, and 6 soft 

 dorsal rays. On each side there are nine pelvic rays, eight soft pectoral 

 rays, eight recurved serrae on the posterior edge of the pectoral spine, 

 six gill rakers, and two internasal pores. The left side has eleven and 

 the right has ten openings to the preoperculomandibular canal. The 

 anterior pectoral spine serrae are numerous and of moderate length. 

 The humeral process is long. The black adipose blotch extends to the 

 margin; there is no black pigment near the tips of the dorsal rays; the 

 the basicaudal bar is present, though faint. Pigmentation about the 

 base of the dorsal fin cannot be ascertained. The preservation is good. 

 The head length stepped into the standard length is 3.55; the distance 

 from the adipose notch to the tip of the caudal fin stepped into the 

 distance from the dorsal origin to the adipose notch is 1.65. Table 28 

 gives further measurements. 



Variation. — No geographic trend is evident in the available ma- 

 terial. The single specimen with the infraorbital and supraorbital 

 canals connected anteriorly is from Hines Creek, Tennessee. 



Range. — N . flaviyinnis (map 14) appears to be confined to the upper 

 Tennessee River basin, where it is known from tributaries in Georgia, 

 Tennessee, and Virginia. 



298-943 O — 69 14 



